1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a device for sorting objects, comprising a conveyor that directs the objects to be sorted to sorting output receptacles associated with corresponding sorting outputs and in which the sorted objects are stored.
A device of this kind is more particularly intended for sorting flat objects such as mail items of the envelope or like kind.
2. Related Art
With a mail item sorting device of the kind indicated above, when a sorting output receptacle is full, it is necessary to stop directing the mail items to be sorted towards the sorting output corresponding to that receptacle temporarily, i.e. for the time needed to remove the full receptacle and to replace it with an empty receptacle. During this time, a number of mail items to be sorted that are to be directed to this sorting output are recycled on the conveyor. The result is a non-negligible reduction in the throughput of the sorting device, and even temporary saturation of the device if the number of mail items recycled becomes too large. This situation is even more critical on passing from one sorting scheme to another sorting scheme because in this situation all of the sorting output receptacles must be replaced by empty receptacles. A sorting scheme corresponds to a precise allocation of the sorting outputs of the conveyor to mail item sorting addresses. The result is then unavailability of all of the sorting outputs of the conveyor for the time needed to replace all of the sorting output receptacles.